From Grits for Breakfast, a comprehensive round-up of stories and issues surrounding CPS’ raid on the FLDS compound in Schleicher County. The sheer level of incompetence displayed here by the State continues to flabbergast and enrage me. Who the hell was in charge of planning this disaster? Who signed off on warehousing babies in a 140 year old cavalry fort? Why did no one even bother to check if the guy named in the warrant was even in Texas (he wasn’t; he’s in prison in Arizona)? Why did CPS let some of the mothers go with their children (almost unheard of in a removal case), then strip them of their cell phones, and now kick them out (after they complained to the Governor) unless they have children under four? Did it not occur to anyone to see if there were even enough lawyers in a five-county radius to represent all these children (there aren’t)? Did anyone check to see if it was feasible to have one district judge (responsible for five counties) shut down all her operations just to deal with one case? Once again, Texas state government shows it couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel.

UPDATE:Grits has more from today’s hearings, including links to other coverage and other perspectives. Unsurprisingly, several aspects of the story that were conveniently linked to the media (such as accusation of wide-spread “child bride” arrangements) are coming up short of supporting evidence. The tragedy here is that the State’s ham-handedness, and the flagrant scramble for publicity (by, among others, Greg Abbott, who really needs to stay off television until he learns at least the basics of the Texas Family Code) is liable to torpedo any criminal prosecutions of child abusers in this case.

Well, now… they didn’t check on the guy because they had been waiting for a long time for a solid reason to go in there and deal with situations they knew were going on, but didn’t have the legal grounds to act on. But, you’d think since they’d been chomping on that bit for a while, they’d have developed some decent contingency plans. Or maybe they just underestimated the reproduction rates of fundamentalists, and were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of anklebiters. 😉

I hadn’t heard the piss out of a boot remark for a long time… it’s remarkably accurate when describing any Texas beaurocracy, though!

Thanks Crank, appreciated the opportunity to read your blog post (or is that “blawg” in Texas?)!

On that fella in Arizona, he’s not in prison and the timing of his incarceration did not exonerate him. That’s about where the possibility of him being involved ends.

That affidavit had him pegged almost down to the 3 hairs on the pencil sized mole hangin’ off his left butt cheek.

This would make a great movie, if anyone would believe it! I’m sure one of your oil buddies down there will finance the thing, so long as he doesn’t have any worries about your state gub.met comin’ after him.